Fran Townsen News Today

Since he left, up to today im on medication. i live by medication. >> reporter: she has testified against her son as recruiters, some imprisoned in the u.s. in recent years, but the threat of just somali-americans coming back into this country with u.s. passports and launching an attack on a soft target like a shopping mall, is what one official told us, keeps us all up at night. >> thanks very much, brian todd. lets bring in fran townsen. >> i know theres been deconcerns about them to recruit...

United states. >> what kind of -- whats the role, fran, of this social media in recruiting these potential terrorists out there? >> you know, wolf, we see them like the -- theyre an al qaeda affiliate. we see them using these password-protected web sites, the distribution of extremist media, whether its videotapes or audio tapes. in terms of the social media, in the kenya case, the interesting thing is they were using twitter -- al shabab was, as they went through executing this attack. of cours...

Kind of most understandable, which was the one to blow up the new york stock exchange, but as fran also said, the one that is a lot more americay about getting information about somebody in somalia action that is the program that people i think are most concerned about, and that has to do with phone records. the other one has to do with the internet, which people are kind of more comfortable with, and most importantly sources here, who have been briefed were concerned about phone records are ver...

To bomb the new york subway system. the plot to bomb the new york stock exchange, i believe that is new. the plot to bomb a danish newspaper, we did already know about that. and finally terrorist activity shortly after 9/11 we had not hard about before. we are monitoring this very closely again well go back to it when theres new information. in the meantime i want to bring back in fran townsend action and dana bash on capitol hill, and gloria borger as well. fran, i want to start with the inform...

>> gloria, fran townsend, dana bash, thank you so much. very interesting whats going on. well get back to it in just a minute. stay with us. [ female announcer ] the best thing about this bar its not a candy bar. 130 calories 7 grams of protein the new fiber one caramel nut protein bar. the new fiber one we know its your videoconference of the day. hi! hi, buddy! thats why the free wifi and hot breakfast are something to smile about. book a great getaway now and feel the hamptonality

They dont say exactly what they were able to do ultimately in that case. >> but the plot on the new york stock exchange, they did describe as a very real plot. i want to bring in dana bash right now. its a very interesting hearing to listen to. you get 9 sense that the members of congress would like to get more information than they currently are getting. mac thornbury was almost, you know, begging for more information at one point. >> thats right. this is being coordinated, just looking down at...

Gloria. lets listen to this exchange that president obama had in an interview last night with charlie rose. >> sure. >> what i can say unequivocally, if you are a u.s. person, the nsa cannot listen to your telephone calls and the nsa cannot targets your e-mails -- >> and have not? >> and have not. they cannot and have not. >> so you have that long self-defense from the president, and this hearing going on at the moment, which according to fran lacks details. you have been writing a very powerful...

Well have more of that in a moment. were covering all angles of this story. dana bash is on capitol hill, fran townsen joins us via skype here from new york, and in washington chief political analyst gloria borger. dana, i want to start with you. the key points of this hearing and what your sources are the hill are saying and whether theyre satisfied with what they are hearing. >> this is kind of jointly put out there by the chairman and ranks member of the committee and the witnesses. this is o...

Domestically based. gloria. they facts, do you think its enough to soothe americans, a lot of whom seem uneasy about this? >> i dont think its enough to soothe americans, but it does kind of give you an idea of the diligence with which they work on these things. i mean, the interesting thing to me about this sort of vague investigation after 9/11, that we talk about, he essentially said the case was closed for several years, and then under section 215 that fran townsend was talking about, the ns...

at least its a plan and that resonates with voters, but most economists say it wouldnt be and forcing to use tear gas good for the country, and it would hurt the poor, actually, to control rioting inmates. in this country. >> reporter: right. yeah, and when you put these im carol costello on this questions to herman cain he b w "american morning." blows them ot and says your -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com analysis is incorrect. you dont have the facts straight. last night he o...